Race,Class and Politics in Peninsular Malaysia: The General Election of 2008

Racial politics have bedevilled peninsular Malaysia since independence in 1957, largely sustained by a ruling coalition of partners sharing power unequally, in a consociational government. The effect of a racialised practice over fifty years is the institutionalisation of the politics of ethnic pluralism, each component driven by its own internal dynamic and cultural logic: for the Chinese it is the politics of economic security, for the Tamils the politics of religion and caste, and for the Malays incipient class antagonisms that are historically rooted in a feudal society. In the general election of 2008, there was an unprecedented swing of votes across the ethnic divide against the ruling government, resulting in the loss of five state governments to an opposition coalition espousing multiculturalism and the loss of the government's two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time. However, we argue that these developments do not signal the beginning of the end of racial politics in peninsular Malaysia. Instead, the opposition has skilfully recoded multiculturalism as social justice and accountability in racial terms, and effectively communicated this to an essentially racialised electorate at a time when Malays, Chinese and Tamils had lost faith in the ruling government's ability to address deep-seated grievances specific to each of these communities.     

Editorial: new moves in Britain

Melaka is represented in Malaysia's tourist and heritage industries as the place 'where it all began'. This article examines the meaning of this slogan in the context of the cultural policies of the Malaysian state in the 1970s and 1980s when constructions of the political and religious traditions of the pre-colonial feudal Melakan Sultanate were presented as emblematic of the modern nation. The images of the Sultanate, of colonial rule and of Malaysian nationalism in Melaka's museums are analysed.The emphasis on ethnic Malay heritage also indigenised that of other Melakan inhabitants, such as the Portuguese Eurasians or the Peranakan, and ignored that of the majority, later Chinese immigrants. Finally the article questions the future of these representations with the shift in Malaysian cultural representations in the 1990s to those of a modernising, multi-ethnic nation in which a feudal past plays a lesser role.     

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia is one of the countries most influenced by international migration, not only in Asia, but globally. Most attention is focused on its role as a major immigration country, but it also experiences significant emigration, having an estimated diaspora of 1.5 million people. This paper demonstrates the scale and composition of the contemporary Malaysian diaspora, and discusses its potential impacts on economic development. In undertaking this task, it is necessary to rely mostly on data from destinations of emigrants from Malaysia because of an inherent bias in migration data collection towards immigrants and destinations. In order to gain deeper insights into the composition of the diaspora and the linkages which it maintains with Malaysia, there is a focus on a single destination country—Australia, which has the second largest community of Malaysian expatriates after Singapore. The potential role that the diaspora could play in Malaysian development is discussed.     

Triassic nautiloid Sibyllonautilus from Gua Bama,Peninsular Malaysia and its regional stratigraphic implications

Coiled nautiloid Shells referred to Sibyllonautilus bamaensis Sone sp. nov. are reported from the top of the Gua Bama limestone hill in Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. This is the first record of the genus in Southeast Asia; a pre-Ladinian, Triassic age is indicated for the occurrence. Based on the presence of Sibyllonautilus and previously reported Late Permian (Lopingian) foraminifers and algae, the Gua Bama limestones are interpreted to range from the Late Permian to the Triassic. It further seems plausible that some parts of Gua Bama are stratigraphically correlated to those of the nearby Gua Sei limestone hill, which has yielded basal Triassic conodonts, and that either or both the Gua Bama and Gua Sei hills may contain yet unconfirmed successions of the Permian-Triassic boundary.     

New Late Permian rugose corals from Pahang,peninsular Malaysia

Aye Ko Aung, Ng Tham Fatt, Kyaw Kyaw Nyein & Myo Htut Zin, 2013. New Late Permian rugose corals from Pahang, peninsular Malaysia. Alcheringa 37, 422–434. ISSN 0311-5518.

Late Permian rugose corals are described from a limestone unit of the Gua Musang Formation at Selborne Estate, Padang Tengku area, Pahang, peninsular Malaysia. These include one genus, Iranophyllum, which is reported for the first time from Malaysia, with two new species Iranophyllum aequabilis and I. pahangense belonging to Waagenophyllidae. A Late Permian age is confirmed by a Paleofusulina–Colaniella–Reichelina foraminiferal fauna co-preserved with the corals.

Aye Ko Aung [akaung.mm@gmail.com], Ng Tham Fatt [thamfatt@gmail.com], Kyaw Kyaw Nyein [konyein@gmail.com], Department of Geology, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Myo Htut Zin [myohtutgreat@googlemail.com], Lab. Services, Pte. Co. Ltd., Singapore. Received 16.10.2012; revised 5.1.2013; accepted 17.1.2012.     

二十世纪初期的槟榔屿华人知识分子——以《南洋英属海峡殖民地志略》记载为例的分析

以宋蕴璞《南洋英属海峡殖民地志略》一书为主要研究材料、槟榔屿华人移民社会中的华人知识分子为研究对象,简述了宋蕴璞笔下二十世纪初期的槟榔屿华人及其中的知识分子与边缘知识分子的基本情况,并对其在发起、推动和参与建设学校、发起书报社、筹办报馆、参与社团等方面的文化教育活动,以及他们漂泊海外的情感归依进行了分析梳理。     

大马伊斯兰教党的崛起及其影响

马来西亚伊斯兰教党的崛起 ,是 1 999年大选后马来西亚政局出现的重大变化之一。本文主要通过分析马来西亚伊斯兰教党的崛起及其政策走向 ,探讨伊斯兰教党的发展壮大对马来西亚华人社会的影响。     

中国大陆的马来西亚华侨华人研究——以1982~2011年间《华侨华人历史研究》刊发论文为基础的分析

论文基于《华侨华人历史研究》1982年以来刊发的约60篇马华研究论文,同时参考近年来大陆有关马华研究的博士论文,分析了大陆关于马华研究的主要领域、资料来源、资料类型、研究方法、作者群特点等。研究显示,大陆关于马华的研究,涉及到政治、政策、宗教、文化、社会、文学、女性、族群关系、医学和音乐等领域;研究者重点使用的是英语资料和马来西亚当地的资料,使用最多的是中英文图书,其次是中文期刊和中文报纸;文献分析法是主要研究方法。大陆已有一批比较固定的马华研究者,但人数相对有限,且少有人进行专一的马来西亚华人研究。选择马华作为博士学位论文研究课题的作者成为当今学界研究马华的主要力量。     

跨族群的宗教传承与变迁--马来西亚华人拿督公崇拜的历时研究

论文通过历史学文献方法和人类学多点田野调查的结合,论述了马来西亚拿督公崇拜的起源、演变和现状。研究认为:拿督公崇拜是一个跨族群的多元文化的复合体,其中最主要的三个文化因素是源于中国的土地神信仰、马来人的克拉末精灵崇拜以及伊斯兰教的圣者崇拜。在拿督公崇拜一百多年来的历史发展中,我们既可以看到这些宗教因素的跨族群的传承,也可以发现他们的不断演变——体现在各因素内涵的再概念化、再诠释,以及因素之间关系的再整合。这个特殊的崇拜揭示了马来西亚华人发展其宗教信仰和文化认同的独特方式——一方面是对中国文化的传承和对其他文化的借鉴,另一方面则是在与本土其他族群的互动过程中对各种文化进行融合和演变。